Imagine you are rushing to the mailbox to see if your favorite orange cat has a new comic. You run as fast as you can inside and scrounge through the pages till you see him. Then you find a comic strip you don’t quite understand. It seems that politics have made its way into your comics.
Garfield has been around since 1978, this big orange cat is a loved character by people of many ages. Even today people still enjoy reading these daily comic strips but what makes him so timeless? Well according to Jim Davis, the creator, that was the point all along. In an interview discussing the Garfield comics, he discussed why Garfield does not really discuss politics. Davis stated in this interview, “I felt that they dealt with politics in rest of the newspapers… it is all about politics and economy. So, I thought that I don’t need to deal with that. Also, those comic strips that deal with politics and social comments, tend to be dated. I didn’t want Garfield to be dated.” Not having Garfield tied to a political group allows more people to enjoy his work. Davis went on later to state in the same interview that he did not want to make him associated with one group of people. He also stated in the interview, “I didn’t want to do that and also, people go to comics to have a laugh and have a break… away from the real news and real world that are often depressing.” Which is what brings so many people to comics or graphic novels is the escape from the real world.
Though today there is some talk about how Garfield has in some way become a political icon, that was never Davis’ original intent. As a lifelong Garfield lover, I hope to see his comics continue to stay timeless to give readers the perfect little bit of a piece each and every day.
References:
“Garfield (Character).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 4 Oct. 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garfield_(character).
“Garfield Thrown out the Window.” The Daily Cartoonist, 21 Sept. 2021, https://www.dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2021/09/21/garfield-thrown-out-the-window/.